Level indicator for seed hoppers



March 20, 1951 T. DEDlO LEVEL INDICATOR FOR SEED HOPPERS Filed March 11, 1950 7///////////// 7///////// lllll/ rl Zm H 1 as Dedio Thom ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 2Q, 1951 -UNITED ".i-STATES PATENT fj. -FFI'CE LEVED INDICATOR FOR=SEED-HOPPERS Thomas Dedio, .Thorsby, .Albertzuacanada -'A1iplic'ation March 11, 1'950';Serial"No; 149,109

..-. :Claims.

c l Myimprovement pertains to. a. device to: be" employe'd. in hop-person .press' grain drills, the purpose ofthe device .being' to indicatewhenathe level of the contents of the hopper-has. sunk Fig. 2 is a sectionaly-iewoniine 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top-viewof the-hopper including :my device, "the-:wtop cover of the hopper-being w partly broken ofi to afiord ai -view of the interior of said hopper,=-the-view-being taken in thedirection of arrows-3--3 of Fig. 2;

I Fig. 4 is 'a---to-p plan viewof a member of: my device as seen by looking in the direction of arrows 4 4 of :Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an 'e'xploded'view' of somefofithe operative elements of my device;

Fig. 6 is a s'ectional 'viewof amodified structure of parts of my device.

* SimiIar' numerals -;-'refer-' :'to "similar parts throughout the 1 several views.

. The hopper: lfi, which:may.bemade of any suitable material; is provided with-a hinged cover A and adischarge-spout 3.. Both of thesedetails 1 are ofz-non-critical..character. and :may be: varied as desired. ;:Mounted-.-for. rotation within the hopper is an upright shaft i2v which 'isbest made A: further purpose of my improvement of the diameter of one oithe wirescomposing the shaft. vAngannular horizontals fiange 28. in 'the base! of the. cylinder .serves as a: supporting means for a .four-bladedjan, generally indicated bye'numeral 1 2 5 The ian is pro vided w-ith- -an opening 22 in the center of its hub portion 23, the openings being large enough to receive==shaft l2..without a frictional 1 contacttherewith. A plurality of .small: openings -Zkare arranged-in register with similar-opening's 25- in flange 2B- of the ;.glider H as azmeans ofz'connectingetheafan Y to: thev glider by means of :bolta 26. uEach individualkblade 2?. of the .fan is bent in what is its enteringedge. 28 to .a slightipitch as best.- shown inxFig. 5.4 Looselys:seated.:.upon;the glider. is a ;:;collar 29;=provided-.=with ara-dialsh'anli3lli' .Piv-

- otally'aflixed tothe-iouterzend ot-the'shankat 3! is a. tubular. arms. Az-metalorodz 33,-: at .onelend ':pivotally connected; at::34,; to a. bracket;.3l ;on

a into ,saidarm 32,.being in a telescopic; sliding connection ;therewith.:. .Mo;unted ;0n the. :outside of wall. 35 is anuelectric terminal; 38,.for attachment of aninsulated'wire? SQJeading. to; 0118:1791- minal' of anrelectric .batterygwhich is notrrshown.

a member. 4 i. insulated from the wall. andxleading,

.:by 'means of aiwir 42; tozan electric'xbelyor. to

argauge zmounted .upon =.-the dashboard of. the

;vehicle. driven'bythe operator of the drill ipress, said bell or agaugebeing, in.turn,. connected= to jor', two lengths ofnwireturned; about .eachother the resultingstructure being equivalent to a shaft provided with a. spiral fin,.:the,latter being, in turn, equivalent to an inclined plane. At its iower end the shaft'terminates with a vertical pin' l3 passing through the bottom 54 of the hopper wand disposed. in abearing lion-the under side of. said bottom. An annular shoulder [6' on the inner side of the" hopper. serves as ameans of preventing anaxial downward displacement of the shaft. Mounted: on the .shaft is a hollow cylindrical glider l1 having a .domedtop 18 provided With an aperture IS; in the form of: an hourglass. The aperture includes two;circular openings, each being of ia diameter slightly inexcess:

the other terminal of the storage battery. It will "be, understood thatthermanner of.wiring isonly suggestive. It .will, be also understood that.. any suitablegaugemay belusedwhichon closing of the electric circuit, including such a gauge will operatevisible means to indicate thatthe hopper is to be refilled.

At its .upperend-shaft l2: -.terminates..with a short axle 44 .disposedfor rotation withina-bearmg 45 which is held in .aspidenfi. The-spider .isafiixed at itslouterends tov the underside of the top portion ofthe hopper, as,sho-wn at. 4'5.

my device it will be necessary to impart a rotary movement to shaft I2. This is accomplished by means of a flexible cable Eeclampedatone-end within the slotted lower end 5! of.pin L3, as shown in Fig. 2. The cable, in.turn,.may be rotated by any suitable powermeans within the .vehicle u-pon which the hopper is mounted. It will be understood that some control means must be employed to start the operation of the device or to discontlnue it when desired, and that the operation of the device may be discontinued irrespective of the movement of the vehicle on which the device is mounted.

In Fig. 6 I am showing a modified mechanism adapted to rotate the shaft i2. In this case I am employing bevelled gears 92 driven by shaft 53, both the gears and the shaft being supported within the upper portion of the hopper by a bracket 54. The advantage of this construction lies in the fact that the bottom of the hopper need not contain any aperture for admission of means to rotate the shaft from below.

I may mention at this point that in the species shown in Fig. 6, as well as in the species shown in the preceding figures, shaft l2 does not have to be made exactly in the manner shown in the drawings, but that it may be made of one solid strip of metal turned about its longitudinal axis to impart to it a screw-like appearance, or that said shaft may be made of a suitable stock circular in cross-section but provided with an external thread. Structures of this kind would be just obvious equivalents of the structure shown in the drawings.

I shall now describe the operation of my device. It will be assumed that a hopper is filled with grain and that fan 2|, affixed to glider ii, is at its topmost level, as shown in Fig. 2. Now, should the device be set in motion b a suitable control, shaft l2 will begin to rotate about its axis, causing the rotation of fan 2|. As the blades of the fan have a slight pitch, that is, as each blade is inclined upwardly along its entering edge, the blades will be working themselves upwardly, keeping on the surface of the grain. As the quantity of grain in the hopper will gradually diminish, the glider, with the fan, will swing downwardly by gravity, the fan remaining continuously on top of said grain until, owing to the low level of the grain, the fan will descend to the bottom of the hopper. The intermediate and lowermost positions of the fan in its descent downwardly are shown in dotted lines Zia and ill) in Fig. 2. The glider, on its descent downwardly, will cause, by means of shank 30, a gradual downward swing of rod 33 until knob 40 on said rod will come in contact with member M. This will close an electric circuit, resulting in sounding of an alarm bell or causing a gauge or a dial to indicate visually that the hopper needs to be refilled.

It will be obvious that some changes may be made in the structure of my device without de parting from the inventive principle disclosed herein.

What I, therefore, wish to claim is as follows:

1. In combination with a hopper of the kind described, a vertical spirally-twisted shaft, a cylindrical glider embracing said shaft, the glider having a closed top provided with an aperture conforming to the twists of the shaft, a fan axially afiixed to the lower portion of the glider, a loose collar on said glider, a shank extending radially from said collar, a tubular arm at one end pivotally afilxed to the outer end of the shaft, a rod at one end pivotally affixed to the inner wall of the hopper and extending at the other end into said arm in a sliding telescopic relation thereto, wiring for an electric circuit, said circuit including electrically operated signal means, means on the rod to close the circuit to operate said signal means, and means connected to the shaft to impart to it a rotary movement about it axis.

2. In combination with a hopper for a grain drill press which includes a vehicle mounted on wheels, a vertical shaft mounted within the hopper and extending from the bottom to the top portion thereof, the shaft being twisted about its axis to form a screw-like outer surface, a cylindrical glider embracing the shaft and adapted to follow the twists of the shaft in a vertical movement thereupon, a fan mounted on the glider in an axial relation thereto, the fan having a plurality of blades each of which is provided with an upward pitch at its entering edge, a loose collar on the glider, a radial shank extending from the collar, a tubular arm at one end pivotally afiixed to the outer end of the shank, a rod at one end pivotally affixed to the inner wall of the hopper midway its height and extending telescopically into said tubular arm for a slideable connection therewith, wiring for an electric circuit, said wiring "including terminal means mounted upon the hopper and electrically operated signal means, means upon the rod to close said circuit in order to operate said signal means, and means responsive to the movement of the vehicle to impart a rotary movement to the shaft.

3. In a seed hopper mounted on a vehicle, a level indicator of the kind described, said indicator including a spiral shaft, a cylindrical glider mounted upon said shaft for a vertical spiral movement thereon, a fan connected to the glider in an axial relation thereto, the fan having a central opening to accommodate the shaft and a plurality of blades, each of said blades having an upwardly tilted entering edge, a collar loosely mounted on the glider, the shank extending radially therefrom, a tubular arm at one end pivotally affixed to the outer end of the shank, a rod at one end pivotally mounted on the wall of the shaft and having the other end in a telescopic sliding relation with the tubular arm, the rod being adapted to be swung in a vertical plane from its pivotal connection by said arm in response to the vertical movement of the glider upon the shaft, an electric bell mounted outside the hopper, the bell being included in an electric circuit, means upon the rod to close the electric circuit when the rod has completed its downward swing, and means responsive to the movement of the vehicle to impart to the shaft a rotary movement about its axis.

4. In a seed hopper of the kind described, a vertical shaft comprising two 'rods spirally twisted about each other, a bearing for the shaft within the lower portion of the hopper, a bearing within the upper portion of the hopper, a cylindrical glider upon the shaft for a spiral vertical movement thereon, a fan affixed to the glider in an axial relation thereto for rotary movement with said glider, a loose collar upon the glider, a shank radially extending from said collar, a rod affixed at one end to the wall of the hopper midway its height and connected at the other end by intermediate means to the shank to cause a vertical swing of the rod to follow the vertical movement of the glider, wiring for an electric circuit, terminal means on the hopper for connection into said electric circuit, an electric bell within said circuit, means on the rod to close said circuit when said rod has completed its swing downwardly, and means responsive to the movement of the vehicle to impart a rotary movement to the shaft.

5. In a seed hopper of the kind described, a vertical shaft comprising two rods spirally twisted about each other, a bearing for the shaft within the lower portion of the hopper, a bearing within the upper portion of the hopper, a cylindrical glider upon the shaft for a spiral vertical movement thereon, a fan afiixed to the glider in an axial relation thereto for rotary movement with said glider, a loose collar'upon the glider, a shank radially extending from said collar, a rod aiiixed at one end to the wall of l the hopper midway its height and connected at-the other end by intermediate means to the shank to cause a vertical swing of the rod to follow the vertical movement of the glider, wiring for an electric circuit, said wiring including terminal means on the hopper, means on the rod to close said circuit when said rod has completed its swing down- 6 wardly, electrically operated signal means within the circuit to indicate that the rod has completed its swing, and means responsive to the movement of the vehicle to impart a rotary movement to the shaft.

THOMAS DEDIO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,140,131 Dorr May 18, 1915 1,939,368 Rydmark et a1. Dec. 12, 1933 

